Okla. board suspends doctor whose patients died of overdoses

Okla. board suspends doctor whose patients died of overdoses
(Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – An Oklahoma physician has been banned from prescribing opioids and suspended from practicing medicine after several patients died of overdoses.
The Oklahoman reports the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision took the action against Dr. Scott Gregory Lilly, an oncologist who treated chronic pain patients at Cardiac Clinic of Muskogee.
A complaint filed with the Board says that 14 of Lilly’s patients had died from overdoses. The Oklahoman newspaper reports that Lilly will be banned from prescribing opioids and other potentially dangerous drugs. He also must serve a six-month suspension from practicing medicine.
The Board didn’t decide whether Lilly was responsible for any deaths but determined he prescribed excessive amounts of opioids and was negligent in the care he provided.
The oncologist hasn’t practiced medicine since the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency visited his clinic in 2015, though he wants to return to work.
In addition to the suspension, Lilly must pay a $20,000 fine and obtain state approval before taking any new job in a medical field.
Lilly’s attorney, Vicki Behenna, says the doctor received little training about how to prescribe opioids safely and had difficulty refusing to prescribe pills for patients in pain. Behenna says Lilly could practice oncology without endangering the public.